Mac Donald, MSc Stacey

Stacey Mac Donald (1989) is a researcher at KITLV, working as part of the NWO-funded research project ‘Confronting Caribbean Challenges’. Her research project focuses on the challenges of cultural heritage and nature conservation in the Dutch Caribbean municipalities.

Stacey received her bachelor degree in Child and Family Studies (2009) and her master degree in Social and Organizational Psychology (2012) at the University of Leiden. For her master thesis, she focused on Environmental Psychology and did extensive research on Curacao on the impact of social norms on littering behavior.

For her PhD work within the CCC-project, Stacey will look into aspects concerning the economic development of the islands. Specifically she will focus on how to reconcile tourism with both nature conservation and respect for local cultural heritage on the BES-islands. As a psychologist, she is interested in uncovering behavioral differences between/within the BES-islands. By means of case studies centered on debates about, and policies for cultural heritage and nature conservation, the aim of the project is to answer questions about governance, history, heritage, environment, and tourism on a micro-level which impact the economic development of the islands.